Gordon Johndroe , assistant press secretary, White House : The day starts off very normally—the president went for a run, and I took the [press] pool out with the president. I remember I got stung by a bee, and I asked Dr. Tubb if he had something he could give me for the swelling. He said, “Yeah, we’ll get you something when we get to the airplane.” Needless to say, I promptly forgot about it that day.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve only been stung by a bee or wasp or stinging thing once when I was about 5. I honestly barely remember it except a snapshot of where the nest was: Inside the box frame of a boat trailer. Mosquitos seldom bother me (like my grandmother). There may have been a spider bite or two but I mostly get along with insects and bugs.
Tell us about your bug stings and bites. A generous definition for bug or sting is fine.
When I first moved to my present location, I had wasps that loved to sting me, and when one of them produced a welt several inches in diameter (treated with Benadryl), I let the landlords know about it, and a few days later, they sent out an exterminator to not only get rid of the nest, but also sprayed an anti-pheromone on the area so they wouldn’t want to nest there again.
At an earlier address, I disturbed a yellow jacket nest, which was underground, and I must have looked like a real goofball jumping around in the yard with those things crawling up my sleeve.
Bitten by crab spider (surprisingly painful for its size), stung by bees, stung by yellow jacket, bitten by Nephila Maculata (or Nephila Pilipes) spider.
Yellowjackets (multiple stings on two occasions) and honey bees are the ones I remember specifically, but other wasps and hornets might be in there. Once each for a velvet ant, assassin bug nymph, and packsaddle (all intense stings.) Hundreds of times from fire ants. And there are some kind of tiny stinging wasp that has been bothering me outside this year–possibly this.
Going to my basement, I put my hand on a lurking wasp, who stung my finger forthwith. The immediate pan was infuriating. Aha, I though, WalMart snake bite kit is 30 seconds away, in the cubby-hole of my car. I applied the little suction cup to the sting, and in less than a minute, there was no lingering discomfort at all.
I think I could have sucked, by mouth, and had the same effect. The entry opening for the toxin doesn’t close very quickly, and it can be drawn back out if you’re fast enough.
Grabbed a paper wasp in high school to relocate it, and got stung for my trouble (very, very painful, hand throbbed the rest of the day)…
Stung by a bumblebee that ran into my throat then fell down the front of my shirt. Also painful, but not as bad as the wasp.
Most mysterious was a caterpillar of some kind… We were swimming in the irrigation ditch near my house and this largish (2-3 inches) caterpillar came floating through the culvert. I picked it up, and was fascinated by it, because it had these little “windows” on it’s sides, and you could see its innards move as it walked. Then it stung/bit me… And it HURT. Hand ached for probably 24 hours. Never have figured out what it was in the intervening 30-ish years…
ETA:. I’ve also been stung by many fire ants and bitten by many types of annoying-ass flies, but those were just constant where I grew up.
When I was a kid, I played with all sorts of bugs, including honey bees. Whenever I was stung by a bee, my mom made a paste of baking soda (baking powder?) and applied it. It worked right away.
When I was in college, a friend of mine was stung by a bee. She quickly discovered that she was severely allergic, and we had to rush her to the ER.
A few years ago we were pontooning. I took a drink from my beer and immediately could tell something wasn’t right. I spit out the mouthful of beer and there was a yellow jacket! He struggled a bit getting his bearings, drying, then flew off. I got a fresh beer.
There was a wasp/hornet nest on our goose house. I stood ten or fifteen yards away and sprayed while my gf warned me to wait until dark. An angry wasp flew at me and actually ricocheted off my forehead, leaving a tender spot but no sting. I ran.
I got stung by bees and wasps fairly regularly as a kid. As as adult, I always assume the pain was magnified in my memory. Then I get stung again, and nope, it really really hurts.
At least once every summer an umbrella wasp gets me. I try to remember not to grab things that have been sitting undisturbed for a while without a reeeeally good look and maybe give a thwack or shove with a long implement, but inevitably I’ll be in a hurry and forget.
I live in SC so fire ants are a constant, though having our property treated 2x/year with a growth regulator has been a godsend, I can go barefoot outside and (mostly) be fine!
Mosquitoes don’t much like me, but in the late summer the biting flies around the barn can be awful. They love ankles. Trail riding means deerflies, persistent nasty bastards. Hate them.
We go to NYS mountains in the summer, and the blackflies can be awful. They don’t really hurt or itch much, but they can leave a wicked welt.
Every once in a while I find a tick on me >>shudder<< One of the few things that truly creep me out!
Oh, how I hate yellow jackets!! They got me twice! First time, I was trying to clear our some wisteria that was trying to take over the side yard. I was in baggy shorts and a baggy t-shirt and flip-flops. I accidentally stepped on the entrance to their lair and the bastards flew up my shorts and shirt and stung me repeatedly. I went running for the house, stripping off clothes as I went. Dunno if any of the neighbors saw, but I was beyond caring at that point.
Second time, I was driving ol’ John Deere along the stretch of grass between our yard and the road - and I went right over the nest. Once again, they attacked! Bastards!! After both events, spousal unit used the wasp spray and filled their nests with poison. They’ve not been back since, but I’m very leery of any hole I see. (Most, I think, are from moles. Or maybe snakes. Nothing that stings, tho.)
More recently, I’ve got bites on both legs from some massive fly from hell. They itch like crazy! I’m not sure what particular species they are, but I didn’t notice them till after they bit me. Sometimes nature sucks!!
I once though I stepped on glass in the kitchen and discovered my toe had bumped a wasp I’d hit with a flyswatter earlier, but hadn’t been able to find.
Riding downhill on a rough tractor track in the woods, wearing ripped jean shorts I got a wasp inside my underwear and it stung me twice in a tender place while I tried to get it back out.
Stung by multiple yellow jackets as a kid; went into anaphylaxis, nearly died. Happened again the next year, though fortunately not nearly as bad a reaction. Then spent 18 months building up my tolerance for iocane powder, I mean bee venom, through a series of painful shots. I’ve been stung multiple times since then and it hurts a lot, but no breathing difficulties. I do, however, carry an epipen.
My daughter got 5 or 6 stings from yellow jackets in our backyard when she was 5. She was pretty hysterical for a few minutes, then calmed down. I told her it was a good thing, because we now knew she wasn’t allergic. She told me she wasn’t crying because of the pain, she was crying because they hurt her feelings attacking her when she did nothing to hurt them.
I keep bees and have been stung many times. It’s usually no big deal. I put on some green salve I make from plantain leaves and it reduces the redness and pain and itch. But wasps! I was stung by a red wasp on the back of my wrist and my arm swelled past my elbow, and stayed swollen for a couple weeks.
Grew up in Texas; fire ant stings were pretty much unavoidable as kids. They hurt, but they’re not that bad if there are only a couple.
Neighbor kept bees; got stung more than once, but not too often. The real threat, believe it or not, was stepping on the dead ones at the swimming pool (they’d get drowned flying close to the water’s edge and lay there by the pool), as they can still sting after death.
Wasps, hornets, etc… I think I got stung by a paper wasp once as a kid- it hurt like a MFer.
I’ve been bitten by ticks a few times after back country adventures in Boy Scouts.
I’ve been bit by fleas a few times when mowing yards for people who had dogs with fleas.
Probably the most uncomfortable of all are chiggers. Those bastards are SO itchy, it’s unreal.
I got stung by honey bees a few times when I was a kid. Once I hit a beehive with a stick. My mother had just put rollers in my hair. The bees got in them so they stung me and my mother as she tried to get the rollers out. Another time I stepped on one in the yard. My aunt was there and she opened a cigarette, took some tobacco and spit on it and rubbed in on the sting. I don’t remember if that helped.
I didn’t get stung by anything else until several years ago. Some paper trash had blown up against the house and I stepped over an azalea bush to pick it up. A wasp stung me on the inner thigh, through my jeans. The next day I had a swollen area the size of a dinner plate. I could barely walk. I went to urgent care and the doctor said the reaction must have been because I had never been stung by a wasp before. She was right. A few weeks later I was in the attic and got stung on the hand by another wasp . It just got a little bit swollen and was otherwise fine.
As a kid, I quickly learned that the freezer, and alcohol, are an amateur entomologist’s best friend. Any venomous insect, no matter how frenzied or aggressive, is guaranteed to be immobilized by a few minutes in the freezer or half an ounce of alcohol in an enclosed jar. (The latter, unfortunately, kills rather than subdues.)